Continental Magmatism Related to Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic Rifting in Northern Pakistan and Kashmir
Abstract
During the Late Paleozoic and very Early Mesozoic, three groups of igneous rocks originated in the present day northwestern part of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinental landmass: 1) The Peshawar plain alkaline igneous province (PAIP), 2) The Panjal volcanics and associated intrusive rocks of Kashmir and Kaghan, and 3) The dolerite dykes in Peshawar, Hazara and Kashmir regions. The PAIP comprises the Tarbela complex (gabbros, albitites, granites), the batholithic Ambela granitic complex (AGC: granites, syenites, carbonatite, dolerites), the Shewa-Shahbazgarhi and the Warsak granites (some alkaline), gabbros and dolerite, the Malakand granite, and the carbonatite complexes of Sillai Patti (Malakand) and Loe Shilman (Khyber). The Panjal volcanics consist of flows (basalt, andesite, rhyolite and alkaline types), agglomerates and tuffs, dolerites, gabbros and norites. The Panjal igneous activity spans from Carboniferous to Triassic, but it was most extensive and voluminous during Permian. Dolerite dykes of the Peshawar, Hazara and Kashmir regions are quartz-hypersthene normative in character and have a Permian stratigraphic age.
Reliable age data are lacking for most of the PAIP, but the Koga alkaline rocks within the AGC have Rb-Sr isochron ages of 297-315 Ma, the U-Pb systematics of zircon in the Malakand granite suggest a Carboniferous age, and the Shahbazgarhi porphyries have a Carboniferous stratigraphic age. The Panjal volcanics and the dolerite dykes have similar (essentially Perm-Carboniferous) stratigraphic ages. Based on the available geochemical data in combination with the ages of the three groups of rocks, it is suggested that the present day northwestern margin of the Indo-Pakistani landmass experienced a major episode of swelling and rifting, with associated magmatism which culminated during Late Carboniferous to Early Triassic.
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